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Viewpoint: Shootings In Kirkwood Hits Home For All of Us
BY TOM SCHNEIDER
FLORISSANT COUNCIL MEMBER
On June 26, 1963, President John F. Kennedy visited West Berlin during the Cold War and proclaimed, “Ich bin ein Berliner” (I am a Berliner,) meaning that all free people of the world were at one with Berlin and their besieged predicament at that time.
Today every one of us are Kirkwood citizens, and we are at one with our brothers and sisters there as they cope with an unimaginable tragedy that happened at their very seat of government.
Last weekend I felt compelled to be in Kirkwood, so my wife, Rachel, and I had dinner at Amici’s on Kirkwood Road. It is a favorite of Mayor Swoboda’s and mine. It is an ongoing needle for me to kid Mayor Swoboda that a damaged curb outside the restaurant would have been fixed a long time ago if it was in Florissant. After dinner we went for a walk to be among the people and to see the flowers laid on the steps of Kirkwood City Hall and at the entrance to the police department.
Most of us are all collectively shocked at what happened in the Kirkwood Council Chambers. Added to our shock are the statements by some to the news media that the gentle people who were attacked shared in the blame for the massacre that took place. Also, I feel that some of the statements on the internet are outrageous, provocative, cruel, un-American and even barbarous.
We are a nation and a community of laws. We choose our executives and our law makers. That does not mean that we agree with every law or method of enforcement, but we need laws to help us coexist in civilized society. Democracies and Republics owe their success to the rule of laws written and enforced by elected leaders. Those laws have exhaustive checks and balance systems such as appeal boards, hearings and courts.
Mayor Mike Swoboda was elected by the good people of Kirkwood as was slain Council members Michael Lynch and Connie Karr. Slain Public Works Director Ken Yost was a dedicated official appointed by the elected. Officer Thomas Ballman and Sgt. William Biggs were in uniform when they were slain doing the duty they swore to do for the citizens they were hired to protect. They were all gentle people doing the jobs that it was their charge to carry out.
Mike Lynch was on the County Municipal league legislative committee that I was chairman of for the past three years and he never missed a meeting. His input was invaluable and will be sorely missed. Personally, I will miss the smile that I got whenever I saw Mike and the friendship and counsel that I received from him.
I know Mayor Swoboda well as he is a past president of the St. Louis County Municipal league and has attended most of the monthly meetings. He is a great guy and a dedicated and selfless leader and we pray for a full recovery.
I am proud of my friend and our own Attorney John Hessel who saved himself and others that night and we are grateful that he escaped physical harm. We (the City of Florissant) have been receiving sound advice from John for 20 years and hope for 20 more.
It is a time for all of us to feel what Kirkwood residents are feeling right now and to pledge to do whatever we can every day to promote peace and tolerance with one another. Our future depends on it.
